RED-NECKED PIIALAROrE. 137 



not that brilliant bay colour upon the sides of the neck 

 and breast, so conspicuous in the male. After some little 

 difficulty, we were fortunate in finding their nests, which 

 were placed in small tufts of grass growing close to the 

 edge of the loch ; they were formed of dried grass, and 

 were about the size of that of a Titlark, but much deeper. 

 The eggs are considerably smaller than those of the Dunlin, 

 and beautifully spotted all over with brown. They had 

 but just commenced laying, June 13, as we found only from 

 one to two eggs in each nest ; but we were informed by a 

 boy whom we engaged in our service, that they always 

 lay four, and are called by the name of Half- web. Mr. 

 Dunn, who visited Orkney and Shetland in 1831, 1833, 

 and 1835, says, " I never saw this bird in Shetland, but 

 I got several in Orkney ; it sometimes builds its nest on 

 small green islands in the middle of the lakes. The 

 places where I procured their eggs, and found the birds 

 most numerous, were in a small sheet of water three or 

 four miles from the lighthouse of Sanda, a lake near 

 Nunse Castle in Westra, and at Sandwick, near Strom- 

 ness." 



This species has been obtained in Norfolk, Yorkshire, 

 and Northumberland. Passing over the Scottish localities 

 already named, M. Nilsson mentions that the Red-necked 

 Phalarope visits Sweden and Norway, where a few remain 

 to breed on the margins of fresh-water lakes, but the 

 greater part going still further north, are known to visit 

 Lapland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. Mr. W. Proc- 

 tor, Subcurator of the Durham University Museum, visited 

 Iceland in the summer of 1837, and in some notes on the 

 habits of birds seen there, which were published in the Na- 

 turalist, mentions, that " The Red-necked Phalarope, or 

 Lobefoot, breeds on little hillocks among the marshes. The 



